ArcelorMittal has notified the majority of the 450 workers at its Indiana Harbor East No. 4 steel bar plant that they will be temporarily laid off beginning Sunday, February 22, for about two-to-three weeks due to the current economic situation.
Tom Hargrove, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1010, told press between one of three meetings with the soon-to-be-laid-off plant workers Thursday, "If you don't have the orders, how can you run? People aren't happy but for the most part they understand. Hopefully the stimulus starts and we start building bridges, and buying steel, buying American and things pick back up."
While the company is hoping to bring the workers back within three weeks, economic factors will determine if the layoffs will be prolonged. "Consumers aren't spending so places close down, and people get laid off, and spending falls more and there's more layoffs. It's just a chain reaction. Everything ties together. Once the economy picks up, the whole chain will pick up," Hargrove said.
The plant's business success is largely tied to automotive sales because it supplies specialty bar steel to the auto industry for axles and steering linkage.